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THE GRAND CHALLENGES

With every click, tweet, and text we collectively generate a torrent of data that is becoming one of the most abundant and valuable resources on the planet - but for whom? We asked a crowd of experts, "How can we make our data work for us and not against?" These Grand Challenge areas emerged from a network analysis of that collective input. If solved together, we believe they will catalyze a new data economy – for the people, by the people. Join us in answering the challenges and adding your voice to the global conversation: We The Data!

“92% of children under the age of 2 in the US, already have an online profile”

Data is quickly becoming the planet’s most abundant resource. We believe this data is vibrant with potential for creating positive change by and for the very individuals generating it – We The Data. We The Data have the opportunity to make use of our own data, to become catalysts for innovation and positive change that is vibrant with personal meaning. The more personal meaning, the more social good.

The world is undergoing an explosion in the availability of digital data, a tremendous amount of it generated by technology users simply going about their daily lives. Much has been made about the degree to which corporations are battlingforcontrol of this ever-growing data-sphere. But this explosion has also created the opportunity for a more participatory approach to value creation, one not dominated by consumerism and big corporations. People are bringing tremendous entrepreneurial energy, and a renewed sense of community, to the use of their of personal assets (AirBnb; ThredUp; Parkatmyhouse); their skills and knowledge (Quirky;Thingiverse; Udemy) and, most relevant, their personal data (Pachube; PatientsLikeMe; QuantifiedSelf).

Currently, most personal data is gathered by large institutions and corporations who keep it for their own purposes. We are interested in fostering a conversation around core challenges for empowering a much more decentralized approach – where individuals retain more control over their personal data, collaboratively discover its value and directly benefit from it.